Many of us on Twitter are racking up followers so quickly that we don’t stop to think about those people who follow us, then click on “unfollow” when they read one of our tweets that offends, angers or bores them.
If you’re curious about which followers have abandoned you, check out the free service Qwitter. When you enter your Twitter username and email, Qwitter will send you an email when someone stops following you. It will also tell you which tweet you posted immediately before that person defected. You may never know the exact reason why people are leaving, but you might start to see a pattern.
Are those emails arriving from Quitter after you tweet about politics? Or religion? Or what you had today for lunch? Or every time you promote something you’re selling? If so, you might want to rethink your Twitter strategy.
The “what I had for lunch” tweets, by the way, are starting to get tiresome. Instead, why not flag your followers to a terrific article, helpful website or fun quiz you’ve found online?
“Give more than you take” is Warren Whitlock’s mantra. You can find him on Twitter here. He was my guest expert during two teleseminars last month on “How to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts–and Promote.”
A hat tip to Donna Gunter for sharing this Quitter tip in today’s edition of the SpeakerNet News newsletter.
Don’t know that I agree with Qwitter, Joan. Twitter is a conversation, and as such people may leave for a whole lot of reasons. I’ve stopped following people who Twitter too much–not because I don’t like what they say, but because I can’t keep up. I think that it’s unwise to assume that people have stopped following you because of something you said.
I also think that self-censoring before tweeting runs counter to the spirit of the tool. While you may get tired of the “what’s for lunch” tweets, many people may find them interesting and even endearing. I personally like those kinds of tweets; they reassure me that I’m hearing from a real person, and they encourage conversation. Imagine how quickly your friends would grow tired of you if every time you met with them you only said things that you thought would be useful to them? Twitter is a way of connecting with people.
I must say, too, that I’ve noticed a bias on your part for using Twitter–well–“usefully.” For example, you’ve mentioned on Twitter before the election that you didn’t like to see the very political tweets. I find it interesting that you then used politics as an example of why someone might leave. You also mention religion (which is a subject most individuals avoid like the plague anyway), as well as the “what you had for lunch” posts. Are you really saying that these are the subjects that you personally like least to see?
Finally, what value is there in finding out why people left you? I listened in to Warren’s “army of followers” podcast, and he also mentions that you shouldn’t worry too much about what you tweet, because people are going to find these things out about you as they get to know you–even if they are business contacts. I think that trying to tailor your tweets by second guessing why individuals stopped following you defeats the purpose of Twitter and will make your tweets rather dull. And THEN people will really stop following you.
I like to see a mix of personal and useful tweets. But that’s just me. Everybody is different.
On Twitter, take what you like an leave the rest. Or simply “unfollow.”